Common Criteria: Slapper Worm Stops Slapping

Sep 23, 2002, 16:00 (17 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Robert Lemos)

[ Thanks to MartinV for this link. ]

"Slapper--the Linux worm that threatened to spread itself by creating a peer-to-peer network of infected machines--appears to be wearing itself out.

"The worm started spreading a week ago, and now appears to have reached a plateau after infecting about 7,000 servers and turning the hosts into a peer-to-peer network that could be used to attack other computers.

"Known as Linux.Slapper.Worm, Slapper and Apache/mod_ssl, the worm's spread has fallen far short of the biggest attackers in recent times. For example, Code Red infected 400,000 servers last summer. And according to the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, the Nimda virus compromised 86,000 systems last fall.

"Perhaps most telling, security experts are already talking about Slapper in the past tense..."

Complete Story

Related Story:
Symantec/LinuxSecurity.com: Apache Advisory: OpenSSL(Sep 14, 2002)